Jesus: The Worthy Servant

Note to teachers: the objective of this lesson is to focus the class on the fact that God made Jesus our Christ, made Jesus our Lord, gave Jesus all authority in heaven as well as on earth because Jesus was God's servant. This lesson is to serve as a transition, a bridge, to next quarter's lessons. This quarter's lessons focused on Jesus as God's servant. Next quarter's lessons will focus on the necessity of Christians being God's servants. Christians can understand and will accept the responsibility to be God's servants when this is true: each Christian allows Jesus to be his or her example. As God's son, the pathway to Jesus' success was the path of a servant. As God's sons and daughters who are alive in Jesus, the pathway to our success is the path of a servant. As you prepare for this lesson, keep the objective clearly in mind. Use your own understanding and creativity to pursue this understanding.

This picture of Jesus the servant is unique. Each of the other pictures in this series declared his coming, revealed his physical life, or discussed him after his resurrection. This picture is provided after his resurrection. That fact does not make it unique. It is a picture of Jesus as the Lord and Christ in heaven after the resurrection. That is unique.

The key point: Isaiah presented the Messiah who was to come as the suffering servant. The gospels presented Jesus as the physical man who served in every conceivable manner. The epistles presented the resurrected Jesus as the one who served. The writers challenged those Christians to make the servant Jesus their example. Revelation 5 presented a picture of the triumphant, resurrected Jesus who is honored by all heaven. [Suggestion: focus on the manner in which heaven honored him.] He was honored because he was worthy of honor.

Revelation provides this picture. Rather than allowing our questions about Revelation to distract us, focus on Jesus, The Lamb, in Revelation 5.

Suggestion: briefly observe that we have many questions about Revelation that we would like answered. But today request that they focus only on the scene of Revelation 5. Focus specifically on Jesus in Revelation 5.

The scene: John saw a vision of God's throne room (4:1,2). He saw God holding a scroll (a long sheet of written material in a roll). This scroll had writing on both sides of the sheet. It was rolled (therefore unreadable) and sealed with seven seals. The privacy of a writing's contents was preserved by sealing a rolled scroll with drops of wax. The message of a sealed scroll was not common knowledge. John knew his questions could not be answered if he did not know the message of the scroll.

Suggestion: observe that not just anyone could take the scroll from God. No one dare approach God to take the scroll unless this heavenly being was worthy. All heaven heard the question the strong angel asked. Among the heavenly beings, no one was worthy. Not even heaven is filled with those who can stand before God in worthiness.

A strong angel with a loud voice asked, "Who is worthy to open the scroll" (to break its seals and reveal its message)? Only someone worthy could take the scroll from God's hand and open it. No one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth answered. No one in any realm was worthy to reveal the scroll's message.

Make certain that the class sees the point that not even in heaven are there beings who can stand before God as worthy, as equals.

John began to cry. He would never know the scroll's message. An important heavenly being told him not to cry. There was one who was worthy to open the scroll. John then saw a Lamb who had been killed (sacrificed) standing in the middle of the throne (literal translation). Because he was worthy, this Lamb took the scroll from God's hand. When he did, the dignitaries of heaven bowed before the Lamb and sang. Their song answers these questions.

The purpose of John's experience created by this vision was to provide him understanding. This understanding was desperately needed. If John understood, he could help Christians understand. Revelation is addressed to Christians in Asia Minor. Emperor worship was a powerful force there that threatened the existence of Christianity in that area (and beyond). The danger was so immediate and the suffering so immense that Christians struggled to understand (a) how this could happen to them and (b) how it should be understood. John deeply yearned to hear the message within the scroll.

1. What was the Lamb worthy to do (verse 9)?

   The Lamb was worthy to take the scroll from God's hand and to break the seals (taken the scroll and open it so that its message could be declared).

2. What two reasons made the Lamb worthy to do this (verse 9)?
   1. He had been killed (as God's perfect servant) and

   2. the blood of his death purchased for God people all over the world.

3. What did the Lamb make from the people that he purchased with his blood from all over the world (verse 10)?

   He made them a kingdom and priests to God.

4. What will these people do (verse 10)?

   They will reign on the earth. [Please remember that God's kingdom is not a physical empire that rules in the ways an empire commonly reigns. Do not confuse "reigning for God" with exercising physical control over the earth.]

A second song began as angels beyond number sang with the twenty-four elders and the four creatures.

1. What is the Lamb worthy to receive (verse 12)?

   The Lamb was worthy to receive power, riches, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing. Note: He is worthy to receive every good thing.

2. Upon whom was blessing declared (verse 13)?

   Blessing is declared upon God [who sits on the throne] and the Lamb.

Note in the songs, only two are worthy: the enthroned God and the sacrificed Lamb.

Focus on an obvious, simple point: Jesus, the sacrificed Lamb, the resurrected Lord, is worthy, and God is worthy. The worthy Jesus became God's sacrificial lamb because he was the submissive, humble servant. As the servant, he was killed. As the servant, he gave his blood to purchase people for God. Because he emptied himself in total submission, including submission to death, God exalted him to be Lord (remember Philippians 2:2-11?).

Discuss the concept of "worthy." The Greek word translated "worthy" in English refers to balancing a scale: the lower beam of the scale is brought into balance; it indicates two things that are equal or equivalent. No one but the Lamb could stand as an equal before God, take the book, and open it.

All heaven, including God, honored Jesus because he is worthy (read 1 Corinthians 15:23-28). No one else is worthy to be Christ. No one else is worthy to be Lord. No one else is worthy to receive from God the authority to rule. God's own son, the Worthy One who became God's servant, took and unsealed the scroll.

As is the case in many matters, we are told a fact that we cannot comprehend. The preexistent Jesus who existed in the form of God did not cling to equality with God. He without objection emptied himself and became human [Philippians 2:6]. However, his willingness to come to earth as a servant devoted to God's purposes advanced his heavenly position. Heaven honors him, and he is worthy of the honor. When heaven honors the Lamb, this in no way diminishes or detracts from the worthiness of God. They are not rivals. When the Lamb is honored, God is honored. Both are worthy.

When we worship on Sunday, do you see Jesus' worthiness? When we take the Lord's Supper, do you see Jesus' worthiness? As you eat the bread which symbolizes Jesus body, do you see Jesus' worthiness? When you drink the grape juice that symbolizes his blood, do you think of Jesus' worthiness? When you sing honor and praise, are you aware of Jesus' worthiness? When you pray to God and end your prayer "in Jesus name," do you have a sense of Jesus' worthiness? When you consider God's forgiveness, God's grace, God's mercy, God's willingness to pay your ransom with Jesus' blood, do you think of the worthiness of Jesus?

Recognizing, understanding, and appreciating Jesus' worthiness is recognizing his position and significance. It is the awareness that every spiritual blessing we have was made possible by him [Ephesians 1:3]. It is the awareness not only of what we became in the Lamb, but of what we could never be were it not for the Lamb. When we grasp his worthiness we confront our unworthiness.

After your death, how will you react to Jesus' worthiness? After you die, what importance will you attach to your forgiveness? After you die, what importance will you attach to God's grace and mercy? When you see what John saw, how will you react? Will you need to be told to fall face down before the Lamb? Will you want to? Will you need to be told to praise the Lamb? Will you want to? Will you understand and feel your complete dependence on Jesus? Will you realize what your position or future would be if the Lamb had not purchased you with his blood?

The moment we die we will understand the full significance of the Lamb. The moment we die we will understand our total insignificance and unworthiness. On earth it is doubtful that we can feel or experience the sense of utter dependence on Jesus and absolute unworthiness before God that every person will experience the moment he or she dies. Before death we will never grasp the magnitude of what Jesus did for us. After death that realization will overwhelm us.

God made Jesus Christ and Lord because he was willing to be a servant. What God makes each of us depends on our willingness to be servants. The Son of God became a human servant devoted to achieving God's purposes on earth. If we become sons and daughters of God, we must be God's servants who are devoted to achieving God's purposes on earth. Jesus achieved God's purposes by the way he used life and death. So will we.

God could reveal Himself through the life and death of Jesus because Jesus surrendered himself to God's purposes. God can reveal Himself through our lives and deaths only if we surrender ourselves to God's purposes. [We are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth; see Matthew 5:13-16.]

Jesus did not serve God on his own terms. We do not serve God on our own terms. Jesus served God to achieve God's purposes, not his own. We serve God to achieve God's purposes, not our own. To serve God, Jesus gave his life to God. To serve God, we give our lives to God. Serving God meant God determined how Jesus lived and how he died. Serving God means God determines how we live and how we die. The "how" refers to our heart, attitudes, and motives as we live and as we die.

If we are God's servants, God is our Master. He controls our lives; we do not control Him.

God works through servants. That is the truth. Jesus was a servant. We must be servants. We must allow Jesus to teach us how to have a servant's heart and attitude.

Only Jesus can show and teach us how to be God's servants.

Link to Student Guide Quarter 1, Lesson 12

Copyright © 1999, 2000
David Chadwell & West-Ark Church of Christ

previous lesson | table of contents | next lesson